Carol McEldowney

Overview

Carol Cohen McEldowney born Brooklyn, NY April 5, 1943 (d. 1973). American peace activist; illegally visited Hanoi Oct. 1967 in reconciliation effort; published Hanoi Journal, 1967. Community organizer Students for a Democratic Society.

Quotations

“Vietnam now suffers greatly as the object of the American war. What happens there is a result of American success or failure.” (Wiest, America and the Vietnam War)

“[The Vietnamese people] will continue the Revolutionary struggle till death. . . The truth is that the struggle for independence is woven into the blood and life-fabric of every man and woman.” (Hanoi Journal, 1967, p. 131; photo classcreator.com)

Peg McIntyre

Overview

Peg McIntire (née Dallet) born New York October 2, 1910 (d. 2008). Grandmothers for Peace activist; opposed Iraq War, School of Americas; arrested over 12 times for nonviolent protests; jailed 30 days for protest against Cassini rocket at the age of 89.

Quotations

"I think it is immoral (if not unconstitutional) that more than half of our tax dollars are used to pay for current and past wars. If instead this money were invested in peace initiatives and aid programs, we could truly build a better and more secure world." (Letter to editor, March 17, 2007; photo http://bit.ly/As0BfA)

Cynthia McKinney

Overview

Cynthia McKinney born Atlanta, GA March 17, 1955. Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy PhD. Candidate; six-term US Representative, 1993-2003, 2005-2007. Served on House International Affairs Committee; headed human rights subcommittee which sponsored act to deny arms to dictators. Opposed Kosovo bombing, 1999; voiced early opposition to Iraq War, 2003; led move to impeach George W. Bush, 2006. Won 161,000 votes as Green Party presidential candidate, 2008. Detained for attempt to break Gaza blockade, 2009; opposed Libya War, 2011.

Quotations

“The American people are being called upon to send their young sons and daughters to go and kill young Iraqi sons and daughters. This war, like all wars, will be brutal and will leave many American and Iraqi families mourning the loss of their children.” (Sept. 22, 2002; photo Wikipedia)

Sarah McLachlan

Overview

Sarah McLachlan born Halifax, Canada January 28, 1968. Singer of peace and nonviolence; supporter of CARE, Heifer International, and anti-hunger causes.

Quotations

"The world's on fire and it's more than I can handle"

"Peace in the struggle to find peace
And if I feel a rage I won't deny it
I won't fear love."

("Fumbling Towards Ecstasy"; 2010 photo Wikipedia)

Lucia Ames Mead

Overview

Lucia Ames Mead born Boscawen, NH May 5, 1856 (d. 1936). Pioneering American internationalist; anti-imperialist; pacifist; suffragist. Promoted interdependence, arbitration, and international organization, including international police force. Co-founded Women's Peace Party with Jane Addams, 1915; founding member of WILPF.

Quotations

"Whoever helps to make nations interdependent helps to make them friends."(Swords and Plowshares, p. 48, 1913; photo cowhampshireblog.com)

Margaret Mead

Overview

Margaret Mead born Doylestown, PA December 16, 1901 (d. 1978). Anthropologist; Quaker.

Quotations

"Every time we liberate a woman, we liberate a man."

"The first step in the direction of a world rule of law is the recognition that peace no longer is an unobtainable ideal but a necessary condition of continued human existence." (New York Times Magazine, Nov. 26, 1961, 125; photo wikicom pd)

Blanche Margaret Meagher

Overview

Blanche Margaret Meagher born Halifax, Canada January 27, 1911 (d. 1999). Diplomat; first female Canadian ambassador, 1957; throughout her career, posted to Greece, Israel, Austria and Sweden; opened relations with China. 1970; chaired International Atomic Energy board.

Quotations

"I like to think that my record made some small contribution to the cause of equal opportunities for women in the Canadian foreign service." (Margaret Weiers, Envoys Extraordinary, p. 61; 1959 photo Wikipedia)

Faith Meckley

Overview

Faith Meckley born Geneva, NY February 19, 1995. Environmental activist; college journalism student. Participated in Great March for Climate Action, May 2014, and Keystone protest, Washington D.C., August 2014; arrested for trespassing in protest against fracking, Seneca Lake, 2014.

Quotations

“Your honor, I committed the act of trespass to protect Seneca Lake. I did this peacefully and with love.” (Dec. 17, 2014; photo fltimes.com)

Marie Mattingly Meloney

Overview

Marie Mattingly Meloney born Bardstown, KY December 8, 1878 (d. 1943). Editor and journalist; decorated by governments of Belgium and France for postwar relief; contributor to Why Wars Must Cease, 1935. (photo 1943 New York Times)

Irene Mensalves

Overview

Irene Mensalves born Ft. Wayne, IN January 17, 1904. Quaker pacifist; at age of 103, protested against Iraq War with Granny Peace Brigade, Baltimore 2007.

Quotations

"I'm a pacifist, strictly. . . There has to be negotiation. Why wait until we've killed so many people to negotiate?" (Baltimore Sun, Jan. 3, 2007; photo http://bit.ly/yh8xzH)

Andrea Cristina Mercado

Overview

Andrea Cristina Mercado born California January 27, 1979. Co-founded We Belong Together, supporting undocumented immigrants. Organized 100 Women 100 Miles pilgrimage from York detention center to Washington DC to meet Pope Francis, 2015.

Quotations

“[A]n act of sacrifice and an act of love for our families and for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country. . . We hope that with our walk, we will touch the hearts of Americans across the nation and that the pope’s prayers will also touch the hearts and inspire us as a country to have policies of compassion and not cruelty for migrants.” (Refinery 29, Sept. 21, 2015; photo domesticworkers.org)

Eve Merriam

Overview

Eve Merriam (née Eva Moskovitz) born Philadelphia, PA July 19, 1919 (d. 1992). Quaker playwright, poet.

Quotations

"I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, 'Mother, what was war?'" (photo masterworksbroadway.com)

Justine Merritt

Overview

Justine Miller Merritt born St. Louis, MO March 31, 1924 (d. 2009). Invented 18-mile peace ribbon around Pentagon, displayed on 40th anniversary of bombing of Hiroshima, 1985.

Quotations

"What I cannot bear to think of as lost forever in a nuclear war." (Ledger, July 27, 1985; photo wikicommons)

Sally Jean Michael

Overview

Sally Jean Michael Gawel born April 19, 1934 (d. 1999). Radical Northeastern University professor of philosophy who joined student strike after Kent State shootings 1970; worked against Cuba embargo and American Indian imprisonment.

Quotations

"Pentago! Pentagoing! Pentagon!" (Women's March Against the War, 1971)

Inez Milholland

Overview

Inez Milholland Boissevain born Brooklyn, NY August 6, 1886 (d. 1916). Socialist pacifist suffragist orator; labor lawyer and journalist who sailed on Ford's Peace ship to stop World War I; expelled from Italy for antiwar articles; suffrage icon riding white horse in 1913 parade DC.

Quotations

Suffragist battle cry: "Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?" (Oct. 23, 1916 final speech, Los Angeles; photo Wikipedia)

Elizabeth Smith Miller

Overview

Elizabeth Smith Miller born Geneseo, NY September 20, 1822 (d. 1911). Radical feminist reformer, Quaker-educated abolitionist; introduced bloomer in women's dress 1849.

Quotations

"We [my cousin Eliz. Stanton and I] had so long deplored our common misery in the toils of crippling fashion, that this means of escape was hailed with joy, and she at once joined me in wearing the new costume." ("Reflections on Women's Dress", Arena, Sept. 1892; photo Library of Congress)

Jill Jackson Miller

Overview

Jill Jackson Miller (née Evelyn Merchant) born Lawrence, MO July 25, 1913 (d. 1995). Film actress, singer, author, speaker, composed popular peace song.

Quotations

"Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me!" (summer 1955; photo peacehistory.org)

Kate Millett

Overview

Kate Millett born St. Paul, MN September 14, 1935. Feminist author who led United Women's Contingent in March against Vietnam War 1971; influential second-wave feminist text Sexual Politics called for social revolution without violence or counter-revolution, 1969; arrested and deported from Iran 1979.

Quotations

"I don’t want, for example, a Green Beret, a Zippo for burning down villages, the ear of a dead of peasant, the burden of the charred flesh a Vietnamese child. Nor do I have any interest in acquiring the habits of violence, warfare (unless in the just cause of self-defense—a cause I cannot foresee ever happening in American foreign policy), or the white man's imperialist racism, or rape or the capitalist exploitation of poverty and ignorance." (Sexual Politics, 1968)

On her pacifism: "I want to speak in favor of and as an advocate of non-violence." (Rosemary Reuther, "Feminism and Peace"; photo Cynthia MacAdams)

Myrtilla Miner

Overview

Myrtilla Miner born Brookfield, NY March 4, 1815 (d. 1864). Pioneer of nonviolent resistance; abolitionist; educator. Founded first normal school for African-Americans in Washington DC in the face of threats to burn it down, 1851. (1850s photo wikicommons)

Quotations

“I think God designs to employ the feminine principle more in this age for the redemption of the world.” (Memoir, p.44; photo Wikipedia)

Patricia Monaghan

Overview

Patricia Monaghan born Brooklyn, NY February 15, 1946 (d. 2012). Quaker poet, author, spiritual activist; professor.

Quotations

“[W]ar's hold on humanity is very deep, because if we were acting rationally we would certainly never be talking about using nuclear weapons. War excites people. Killing people is exciting and powerful. Unless and until we can begin to deal with the addictive process of war, we'll never stop going to war.” (Elizabeth Glixman interview, E bookreviews, July/Aug.2006)

“To make peace among oursekves, we must make peace within, embrace our varied heritages: the hated and the loved, the rejected and the cherished.” (The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog, p. 132; photo patricia.momaghan.com)